File Provenance via App Container Metadata
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computing systems lack the ability to authentically report the provenance of files, leading to suboptimal user experiences and security challenges when desktop applications and modern apps interact, as they cannot mutually trust each other due to limitations in existing trust mechanisms like Mark of the Web (MotW), which cannot differentiate security treatments based on the apps that created files.
Innovation Solution
Enhancing file metadata to record the identification and opinion of the app that wrote a file, using the Mark of the App Container (MotAC) technology, which allows the operating system to mark files with the identifier of the app container, enabling apps to make informed security decisions based on the provenance and trustworthiness of the file.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If files are marked with generic security zones (Mark of the Web), then security classification is provided, but the ability to differentiate between trusted and untrusted apps is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the generic security zone concept into app-specific security principals. Instead of a single generic zone marker, each app receives a unique security principal identifier that segments the security classification space, allowing differentiation between multiple trusted apps while maintaining individual app identity information in file metadata.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (file broker with alternate data streams) that mediates between the app identity and security classification. The file broker captures app identifiers and stores them in alternate data streams, acting as an intermediary that preserves app identity information while enabling security decisions based on that identity.
2Reliability
If desktop applications treat all modern apps as untrusted, then security is maintained, but interoperability and user experience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by enabling different trust levels for different apps. Desktop applications can examine the security principal identifier in file metadata and apply locally appropriate trust decisions for each specific app rather than a blanket untrusted policy, allowing trusted apps like Microsoft Word to interoperability while maintaining security against untrusted apps.
3Loss of information
If file metadata is enhanced to store app identifiers, then provenance tracking is improved, but metadata complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses nested doll by embedding app identifier information within alternate data streams that are nested within the file metadata structure. The security principal identifier is nested within the file's metadata, which itself is nested within the file system structure, allowing provenance information to be stored without fundamentally altering the core file format.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the technology described herein can provide enhanced metadata to authentically report the provenance of a file. An exemplary computing device may have a file broker to receive an indication from a first security principal to write a file to a file system. The file broker can use one file utility to write the file, but use another file utility to write an identification of the first security principal and its opinion about the file into metadata associated with the file. Subsequently, the identification of the first security principal and its opinion may be used to authentically report the provenance of the file and applied in other security applications.